WRWM

WRWM (93.9 FM, "93.9 The Beat") is a radio station licensed to serve Lawrence, Indiana, and broadcasting in the Indianapolis area. WRWM recently moved its city of license from Fishers, Indiana to Lawrence, Indiana, and upgraded its power from 2.95 kW to 8.4 kW in order to provide better and wider coverage. Its studios and transmitter are located separately on the east side of Indianapolis. WRWM's main competition is WNOW-FM, WZPL and WNTR.

WRWM is licensed by the FCC to broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format.^[2]

History

The station signed on in 1993 as WXTZ "Ecstasy 93.9." WXTZ ran an Easy Listening format similar to the original WXTZ (formerly at 103.3) several years prior. The format lasted until the mid-90s when Easy Listening was dropped in favor of ABC Radio's now-defunct Solid Gold Soul 24/7 format (Urban Oldies) as "Gold 93.9." The calls were changed to WGLD in February 1996 to reflect this change.^[1] Solid Gold Soul was short-lived, however, and by the fall of 1996, the format was dropped and WGLD flipped to Jones Radio Network's Smooth Jazz 24/7 format.

The license to 93.9 was sold to Susquehanna Broadcasting in 1997. It was decided that Susquehanna's modern country "flanker," WGRL "104.5 The Bear," would be moved to 93.9 while a new format, under 93.9's WGLD calls, would be placed on 104.5. To smooth over the transition, the two stations simulcast "The Bear" for the first few weeks of June 1997. Once the move was complete, the WGLD calls moved to 104.5 and became Oldies "Gold 104.5."^[1] The frequency switch did not help WGRL's ratings as it experienced a substantial ratings drop once The Bear moved to 93.9. As a result, the station became more music-intensive and personalities were let go. By 2001, WGRL simulcasted WFMS in morning drive while Donnie Claw, the lone survivor from the 104.5 days, hosted the afternoon drive shift. The end of The Bear came in November 2001 when the format was dropped for Christmas music as "93.9 The Christmas Channel."

On December 25, 2001, 93.9 flipped to an 80s Hits format as "Retro 93.9." The format lasted until August 2004 when – following a brief stunting period playing TV themes as "TV 93.9" – the station flipped to Contemporary Christian as "93.9 The Song." Calls were also changed at this time to WISG.^[1] "The Song" lasted for a couple of years and saw modest success. However, on December 26, 2006, "The Song" was moved to 93.9's HD2 channel while a new talk format, known as "FM Talk 93.9," moved to the main channel. The station's call letters were changed to WWFT.^[1]

WWFT aired syndicated talk programming, featuring Mancow, Sean Hannity, Dave Ramsey, and others until Friday, November 16, 2007, when programming was replaced with the return of "93.9 The Christmas Channel." As of noon on Christmas Day, WWFT dropped Christmas music and stunted again, repeating the tracks "Lonesome Road" by Dean Elliot & His Big Band and "Swans Splashdown" by Jean-Jacques Perrey.

A new format, adult contemporary "Warm 93.9," debuted at 9:39 a.m. on January 2, 2008, with a commitment to play 93 hours of commercial-free music during its first week. The first song played on "Warm 93.9" was The Police's "Every Breath You Take". On March 3, 2008, WWFT changed call letters to WRWM.^[1] The program director and morning drive host was Fritz Moser. During the Warm era, "The Song" returned to the main station for six hours on Sunday mornings.

At 12:01 AM on July 2, 2009, the station abandoned its eighteen-month-old adult contemporary format; the station had finished 21st in the most recent Arbitron ratings and never mounted a serious challenge to main rival WYXB. The last song heard on Warm 93.9 was The Beach Boys' "Kokomo". The station began stunting again, this time with construction sounds.

At 9:40 AM on July 3, 2009, the station flipped to CHR as "Indy's Hit Music Station, i94" and launched with 94 songs commercial-free. The format change marks the frequency's sixth new format since 2001. i94's first song was The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow".

On July 2, 2011, the station adjusted its daytime format to hot adult contemporary. This did not attract listeners, and in fact drove them away, losing the battle vs. WNOW-FM and WZPL, along with WNTR when they flipped to the format in May 2013.

On December 19, 2014, at 3 PM, after hyping a "major announcement about i94", WRWM flipped to classic hip-hop, promoting a “Classic Hip-Hop Holiday Weekend”, forcing rival WHHH to do the same. Unlike 96.3, however, 93.9 announced "Classic Hip Hop Is Here To Stay", and officially flipped to the format, keeping the "i94" name, but releasing all of the airstaff. Despite billing itself as a Classic Hip-Hop station, Mediabase has placed WRWM (and other Classic Hip-Hop stations) on its Rhythmic reporting panel.

On January 26, 2015, at 9:39 AM, WRWM relaunched as "93.9 The Beat," but kept its Classic Hip-Hop format intact.^[3]

Former logo

Formats

Easy Listening Ecstasy 93.9 (WXTZ) 1993–96
Urban Oldies Gold 93.9 (WGLD) 1996–97
Smooth Jazz Smooth Jazz 93.9 (WGLD) 1997
Country 93.9 The Bear (WGRL) 1997–2001
80s hits Retro 93.9: The 80s Station (WGRL) 2001–04
Christian AC 93.9 The Song (WISG) 2004–06
News/Talk FM Talk 93.9 (WWFT) 2007
AC Warm 93.9 (WRWM) 2008–09
Top 40/Hot AC i94 (WRWM) 2009–2014
Classic Hip-Hop i94 (WRWM) 2014-2015
Classic Hip-Hop 93.9 The Beat (WRWM) 2015-present

References

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WRWM
• Radio-Locator information on WRWM
• Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WRWM